Victim in Washington Township home invasion robbery asks judge to show no mercy at sentencing

A sobbing woman held at gunpoint in her Washington Township home testified Monday that although her sickly husband begged Steven Lee Tomino not to take his cross necklace, Tomino yanked the chain from his neck.

Geraldine Petry said she hoped a Northampton County judge would show the same lack of mercy when sentencing Tomino for the home-invasion robbery and an assault of a police officer during his arrest. Although Tomino blamed the crime on both his heroin addiction and co-defendant, Judge Craig Dally told Tomino it was time to take responsibility for his actions.

"You've used the same excuse before that your conduct was caused by your raging addiction to heroin, but sooner or later, those excuses run thin," Dally said. "It's a continuing story of your life of criminal conduct."

Dally sentenced Tomino to 27 to 54 years in state prison for the April robbery when Tomino and his co-defendant, Ramon A. Clark, posed as interested buyers at the Petry's for-sale home.

Over two days, the men showed up at Geraldine and James Petry's house, the second time robbing them, binding them with duct tape and forcing them into their pantry.

In January, Clark was sentenced to spend seven to 14 years in state prison under a plea bargain.

Geraldine Petry cried Monday as she testified how the crime has affected both her and her husband, who is suffering from cancer and was so traumatized by the robbery he declined to appear in court.

"[Tomino] is a total con man and a liar," Petry said. "The most hurtful thing is when he ripped Jim's cross necklace from around his neck. Jim begged him not to take it, but he still did."

Tomino, 42, of Easton went to trial in January and was convicted of all 13 charges he faced, including robbery, conspiracy and the aggravated assault of a state trooper who arrested him.

Tomino addressed the court, apologizing to Petry and calling himself a family man who was a "hero" to his children.

"I'm sure if we met on different terms, we might have even gotten along," Tomino said to Petry as she sat in the courthouse audience. "I am very sorry for everything you've been through. I am not the man that you think I am."